In what would likely be a marriage made not far from heaven, Julianne Moore is considering joining director Todd Haynes for Dope, an HBO miniseries based on the wonderful thriller by Sara Gran.
Dope is the story of Josephine Flannigan, a small-time crook and ex-junkie who agrees to find a rich couple's runaway daughter. Joe finds herself drawn into a mystery whose sordid stakes soon become higher than she'd thought possible when she first took the job. Set in 1950 New York, Dope is an evocative slice of pulp fiction, colored by the era's jazzy ambiance and filled with noir's distinctive hard-boiled language.
Teaming with HBO for a period piece has been a rewarding choice for Haynes in the past. His recent remake of Mildred Pierce for HBO received 21 Emmy nominations, so shooting Dope seems like a no-brainer — especially were it to feature Julianne Moore, who previously ventured with Haynes into retro territory for 2002's Far From Heaven, a pitch-perfect homage to the lush melodramas of Douglas Sirk. An actress who always makes interesting choices, Moore would be excellent in this rich, complicated role.
Though relatively new to the scene, Gran has made quite a splash in the literary community. Her books are hard to pin down stylistically, but whether the intellectual chick lit of Saturn's Return to New York or the dark crime fiction of the recent Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, Gran has an original, recognizable voice that's worth investigating.
I'm pretty excited about the possibilities here. Gran has already penned the adaptation, and the combination of director, actress, material and format is inspired. Hopefully, this will all work out, because Dope could prove quite intoxicating.
